The Liberation of Jerusalem

Torquato Tasso
Translated by Max Wickert and Notes and Introduction by Mark Davie

Oxford World's Classics

• The first translation since the 17th century which faithfully reflects the verse form of Tasso's Renaissance epic.
• The Liberation of Jerusalem (Gerusalemme liberata) is an epic poem concerning the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders in 1099, combining war and military action with a love theme between Christian and pagan, in which the magic devices of romance play their part.
• Hugely influential, the poem has been a source of inspiration to poets from Spenser and Milton to Goethe and Byron, composers from Monteverdi and Vivaldi to Handel, Haydn, Rossini, and Dvorak, and painters from Tintoretto to Delacroix.
• Mark Davie's introduction sets Tasso's work in the context of the conflicting pressures on the poet in the troubled world of counter-Reformation Italy, its narrative framework and historical accuracy, its reception and influence.
• Includes a Glossary of Proper Names and an Appendix on Tasso's Liberation of Jerusalem in Literature, Art, and Music.

The Liberation of Jerusalem

Torquato Tasso
Translated by Max Wickert and Notes and Introduction by Mark Davie

Oxford World's Classics

Description

The Liberation of Jerusalem

Torquato Tasso
Translated by Max Wickert and Notes and Introduction by Mark Davie

Oxford World's Classics

Author Information

The Liberation of Jerusalem

Torquato Tasso
Translated by Max Wickert and Notes and Introduction by Mark Davie

Oxford World's Classics

Reviews and Awards

The Liberation of Jerusalem

Torquato Tasso
Translated by Max Wickert and Notes and Introduction by Mark Davie

Oxford World's Classics

From Our Blog

How to write a classic

By Mark Davie Torquato Tasso desperately wanted to write a classic. The son of a successful court poet who had been brought up on the Latin classics, he had a lifelong ambition to write the epic poem which would do for counter-reformation Italy what Virgil's Aeneid had done for imperial Rome.

Posted on April 25, 2014

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